This is a blog exploring the intersection of Christianity and the American legal system.

Monday, March 12, 2012

The Lack of Women’s Voices in the Current Debate

Moving away from Mr. Limbaugh’s words, I would now like to move into broader themes in the current debate on mandates to include oral contraceptives in employer provided health plans.To begin, I would like to note the relative dearth of female voices being heard in the public debate of this issue.

Obviously, Mr. Limbaugh’s views have garnered a lot of attention.However, in the media coverage of the public debate, we have heard from others.Because of their roles in determining what our laws will be, we have primarily heard from the president and leaders in Congress.For similar reasons, we have also heard from the GOP presidential candidates who are still in the race for delegates. It is worth pointing out that those individuals are all males.I’ve followed the debate on this issue, but I myself have not even seen any media coverage of Representative Pelosi or other women in Congress.

Further, because this issue is primarily driven by Roman Catholic teaching on artificial birth control, we have also heard in the news from leaders in the Catholic Church.For those who are not familiar, it is worth noting that the Church is governed exclusively by ordained priests.Currently, only men are allowed to be priests.Further, they are not allowed to marry.Thus, when the Catholic Church weighs in on this topic, women’s voices are not represented directly or even indirectly.

This situation is highly ironic in that oral contraceptives are not something, with which most men have firsthand experience.As a result, I think the failure to hear women’s voices on this particular issue is incredibly tragic.It results in a failure to consider critical insights to arrive at a full and informed conclusion on the issue.

Oral contraceptives are an issue in women’s health. Debating mandatory coverage of such prescriptions without hearing from women is absurd.Imagine having a national debate on erectile dysfunction, vasectomies or prostate cancer that was dominated by women and failed to consider men’s actual experiences with these issues.